By Barbara Rogers

 After speculation and rumors, the WPT is coming to Bensalem, Pennsylvania, where the Parx casino—the largest in Pennsylvania, with fifty tables—will host the Parx Open Winter Showdown. There will be 12 tournaments, with the kickoff February 27. The event ends March 7.

 The two day WPT regional event begins March 6 at 11 a.m. and features a modest buy-in of $460 + $40. All of the events are bargain priced, yet offer a huge payout of $200,000 in guaranteed prize pools. And since the Parx poker room is always jammin’, you can expect plenty of players. See the complete listing on The World Poker Tour has stopped in the right place if they expect huge crowds. Parx Casino has seen no shortage of players since they opened their doors. When I played tournaments at Parx Casino in the past, I heard a lot of talk about how tournament were run to precision, with no waiting in lines, and no confusion.

by Haley Hintze
 
NORWEGIAN TAX AUTHORITIES SEEK ABSOLUTE POKER MONEY
Norwegian tax authorities filed a lien with American authorities for accounts frozen on Black Friday, hoping to recover $30 million. Since Absolute’s operating profits were channeled through Madeira Fjord AS, a Norwegian holding company, the revenue is taxable in what has been called by Norwegian business outlets “the largest tax fraud in Norway’s history.”

GUILTY PLEA FOR “BLACK FRIDAY” DEFENDANT RUBIN

The final table of Beau Rivage’s Million Dollar Heater tournament came to an exciting end with former November Niner John Dolan walking away with the trophy, the bracelet and $336,105. The final table started at 2 p.m. and did not end until nearly 11 p.m. as most players had deep stacks with the new structures introduced for this event. Dolan came into the final table as the chip leader, and he had to fade a stacked final table that included WPT Champion Randal Flowers, WSOP bracelet winner Ryan Welch and Lock Poker Pro Matt Stout.

 Dolan eliminated four of his opponents in a row on his way to the win. He had a little luck too. Against third-place finisher Kirill Kruglov, Dolan called his shove with K-J only to see the Russian table Q-Q. But Dolan hits a king on the flop, ending Kruglov’s Moscow nights.

With Todd Brunson, Layne Flack, Dennis Phillips, Scotty Nguyen, Tom McEvoy, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Ylon Schwartz and Chad Brown, who account for 23 WSOP bracelets, 298 WSOP cashes, five Circuit rings and almost $24 million in career earnings, the Choctaw main event field was a star-studded cast.
But none of these poker luminaries made it to the final table. Instead, the title went to 44-year-old Abraham Araya, a laid-off airline flight mechanic, who has more than made up for his job loss with his poker winnings. He won Choctaw’s T.J. Cloutier Poker Challenge last October for $83,659. Now he won $270,380. “Right now I can’t believe it. It didn’t sink in yet,” Araya said moments after his victory. “I can’t tell you how amazing this feeling is. It’s four or five years salary for an airline flight mechanic.”
When play was fourhanded, Jack Miller moved all-in with K-J and was called by Daniel Lowery’s A-7. A six-high straight ran out on the board, but Lowery’s seven gave him a higher straight and knocked Miller out in fourth place, which was good for $92,252.

Viktor “Isildur1” Blom Wins $1,240,000 at PokerStars Super High Roller Event  Viktor Blom, a 20-year-old Swede who plays online as “Isildur1” and is known for having won and lost sums exceeding $1 million in a single session, won his first major live event when he captured the PCA $100,000 buy-in super high roller tournament.

 Blom bested the 30-strong field to win a massive $1,254,400 first prize as well as a stunning bracelet worth over $20,000 from official bracelet sponsor Shamballa Jewels.

 Blom, who earned his legendary online status in high stakes heads-up cash games, said, “This was more fun than winning the same amount in a cash game. I’m not used to making it this far in a tournament. I didn’t expect it. It feels great—very different to playing online.”

John Dibella, a 43-year-old stock trader from New York who came to the PCA to play some of the smaller events won a $1,000 satellite into the $10,000 main event and parlayed his good fortune into a $1,775,000 payday. Dibella, who hails from Westchester, NY, outlasted a field of 1,072 to take the title, saying, “I make more money at poker than as a day trader but I’m not going to call myself a professional just yet. I’m a recreational player, but maybe I’ll take it a bit more seriously from now on. It’s definitely much safer than my day job!”

 This year’s PCA has featured more than 40 events and attracted thousands of poker players from all over the world, including Viktor “Isildur1” Blom won his first major live title when he took down the $100,000 Super High Roller at the start of the festival for $1,254,400.

The period between mid- December and the New Year is really a short offseason for tournament poker. Even so, there were still a few results to report on, and both involved a “palm” theme. The Epic Poker League’s big event took place at the Palms in Las Vegas, and you can read about it right here in Poker Player Newspaper, while the other Holiday season tournament occurred a continent away, at Florida’s Palm Beach Kennel Club.

 Scott Zakheim, of Davie FL, took home first place money of $84,712 at the main event, a $1,000 + $80 no-limit hold’em tournament that attracted a field of 397 players to the sunny sands of Palm Beach. In garnering his victory, Zakheim defeated Jason Mullen heads-up, to send the second-place finisher home with $52,353. Third place went to Robert Hume, who earned $38,255.

Philadelphia’s Chris Klodnicki, who made his bones winning six figures in a World Series of Poker circuit event at Atlantic City’s Borgata, showed that he doesn’t need home felt advantage to take down the money, as he won the Epic Poker League’s third main event of Season 1 at the Palms in Las Vegas. He earned $801,680 for his win.

by George 'The Engineer' Epstein

The previous two issues (Read Part 1 and Part 2) described how the Claude Pepper Seniors Poker Group started seven years ago and grew rapidly. We play for recreation, recognizing that there are significant health benefits for seniors as well as potential profits. Today we complete the story. Starting out, we made do with whatever facilities were available. I brought the cards and chips, and the senior center purchased a large white board to facilitate lectures and discussions. As we grew, we moved into a large room where we also enjoy light refreshments, distribute poker publications, and hold door prize drawings. And local casinos were pleased to host us. After playing on makeshift tables for several years, the management at the Normandie Casino donated two regulation poker tables and heavy-duty poker chips. Our members could hardly believe their eyes!

Cory Wood, from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, struck gold at the Gold Strike’s annual Winter Poker Classic in Robinsonville, Mississippi as he sawed his way through a field of 112 entrants in a $1,600 buy-in, no-limit hold’em tournament to take home first place money of $58,666. He defeated Thibodaux, Louisiana’s Jeremy Gaubert, who took home the runner-up’s share of $30,962. Third place went to Steve Humphries, of Taylorsville, GA, who won $19,555. Fourth and fifth places were captured by Jason Mayfield, of Cabot, Arkansas, and Otis Anderson of Sugarland, Texas. Mayfield and Anderson took down $13,037 and $11,407 respectively.